Sin soars, sinners singed
Police heads claim high rate of detection

SANDIP BAL

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 8: The crime rate in the twin cities has gone up but the good news is that more criminals have been caught as well, the commissioner of police has said.

Police commissioner Sunil Roy said 8,145 criminal cases were reported in the twin cities last year, which was 20.3 per cent more than the total number of crimes (6,765 cases) reported in 2011 in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.

“During this period, the rate of case detection and recovery of property was highest in comparison to the previous five years. The detection rate is 82.6 per cent and recovery rate stands at 48.7 per cent of all cases,” said Roy.

The officials said the crime had gone up during 2012 under all heads. Eighty-two murders were reported in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack last year while it was 61 in 2011. The 98 per cent detection rate was the positive side in it as it was one per cent more than the previous year.

In Cuttack, 36 murder cases were reported in 2012 while 27 were called in in 2011. In Bhubaneswar, the number of murders reported last year was 46, which was 12 more than the figure reported in 2011.

Deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Nitinjeet Singh said the killing of a senior citizen couple in Acharya Vihar was the most difficult case, but their team was able to crack it within a week and arrest the accused. Five persons, including four engineering students, were arrested for killing the woman with the intention to rob her. The woman used to run a mess for the students.

DCP Cuttack Praveen Kumar said the murder of a minor girl in Jagatpur was the most challenging. They were able to crack the case within three days.

The girl had eloped with her boyfriend, who later murdered her and dumped her body in a field.

The accused, too, was a minor, but had taken the help of a security guard.

The police commissioner said 84 rape cases had been reported in 2012 in the twin cities, while the number had been 54 in the previous year. Dowry torture cases had gone up from 265 in 2011 to 473 in 2012.

The top cop said there had been a marginal increase in dacoity and robbery cases. However, there had been a big jump in cases of burglary, theft and swindling.

The commissioner said that after he joined as police head in May, he instructed officials of police stations to register all cases. “We did not want the public to be harassed, as this would give the upper hand to the criminals. If the number of cases is high, the rate of detection is equally high. This shows that we have managed to provide better policing,” said Roy.